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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2005)
50(í Stoudamire Signs with Memphis ■ yccrrs Portland great moves NBA career ahead See story in Sports, page B6 of "community service ‘City of Roses’ Volume XXXV, Number 33 Discovery Lands in California Discovery and its crew o f seven glided safely back to Earth on T ues day, ending a riveting, at times ago nizing, 14-day test of space shuttle sa fe ty . D is c o v e ry s w o o p e d through the predawn darkness and landed at Edw ards Air Force Base in the M ojave Desert concluding the first shuttle re-entry since C olum bia’s tragic return. Basie, Ella, Benny Make Hall C ount Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny G oodm an head this y ear’s class o f 12 inductees to the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz H all o f Fam e, w hich opened last fall in N ew York. The hall is nam ed after the T urkish- born Ertegun, w ho played a key role in developing the catalog o f jazz, R& B and rock album s at A t lantic Records, the label founded by his brother A hm et. Gasoline Prices Surge T he retail price o f gasoline rose alm ost 8 cents last w eek to aver age $2.37 a gallon nationw ide, a new high, the Energy D epartm ent reported. T he previous record high w as $2.33 per gallon, estab lished the w eek ending July 8. Adjusting for inflation, retail gaso line prices peaked above $3 a gal lon in 1981. Anchor Peter Jennings Dies Peter Jennings, the urbane, C anadian- born b ro ad c aste r w ho delivered the news to A m ericans each night in five separate decades, died Sunday. He w as 67. Jennings, w ho announced in April that he had lung cancer, died at his New York home. Rules for Morning-After Pill Federal health officials will decide this month w hether to let women buy em ergency contraception with out a prescription. But states al ready are moving to expand access to Plan B, the pill that can prevent pregnancy if taken soon after un protected sex, am id some com pet ing efforts to restrict it. If the FDA does allow easier access, the pills probably would com e with an age limit — anyone younger than 16 would still need a prescription. A Bg J S Established in 1970 w w w .portlandobserver.com Committed to Cultural Diversity Wednesday • August 10. 2005 Community Commitment New Seasons to open Arbor Lodge store K atherine B lackmore T he P ortland O bserver by In 1999, three Portland fam ilies, along w ith about 50 other people, started a com m unity m arket called N ew Seasons. A little m ore than five years later, the local chain is flourishing w ith five locations successfully in operation and four more stores on the way. D espite the phenom enal grow th, the m arkets continue to be locally ow ned and operated, staying connected to the indi vidual com m unities they serve and w in ning custom er loyalty through old-fash ioned service and a m odern atm osphere. “ W e’re a local chain and people in Portland have a strong desire to support local businesses,” said Brian Rohter, New Seasons co-founder and ch ief executive officer. “W e offerextraordinary attention to ou r cu sto m ers, w e have a happy w orkforce and w e offer really great, high quality, locally grown and produced prod u c ts.” R o h ter said w h ile N ew S easo n s is b ran c h in g o u t fro m its lo c atio n s in n o rth e a s t, so u th e a s t an d so u th w e st P ortland, w ith on e lo catio n in H illsb o ro and sto re s in th e w o rk s o v e r the next co u p le o f y ea rs fo r B e av e rto n , L ake O sw e g o and H ap p y V alley , th e re are no p la n s w h a tso e v e r to m ove b ey o n d the m e tro area. “ W e’re only opening stores in our ow n cities so w e know the com m unities really w ell,” R ohter said. “ It’s easy to go out there and solve problem s. It m akes all the difference in the w orld to do business at hom e.” T he latest incarnation o f N ew Seasons will be its A rbor Lodge location on North ¡• hotos by K atherine B lackmore / T he P ortland O bserver Peg O'Hara, New Seasons Market at Arbor Lodge store manager (left), stands with Customer Service Manager Jerald Mathies and Assistant Store Manager Marisel Emert in the store s colorful deli-seating area, currently undergoing construction and set to open Aug. 31. We focus on trying to make sure that the people that work in our stores look like the people that shop in our stores. Portland B oulevard and Interstate A v enue, set to open its doors on W ednes day, Aug. 31 with a grand opening the follow ing L abor D ay w eekend on Sept. 3 and 4. “W e 're com pletely thrilled w ith how it’s turned out." R ohter said. T h e new sto re is e m p lo y in g a p p ro x i m ately 160 peo p le to do e v e ry th in g from c h e ck in g an d c u s to m e r se rv ic e to m a n ag in g are as such as the d e li, b ak ery and p ro d u ce d e p a rtm e n ts. M o st o f th e sta ff has been h ired so far, w ith h elp from a rec en t jo b fa ir h eld at P eace L u th e ra n C h u rch in n o rth P o rtlan d . "W e had 1,100 people attend the jo b fair and w e have hundreds o f applicants we chose that live in the co m m u n ity ,” R ohter said. K eeping w ith its philosophy o f b lend in g in to th e n e ig h b o r h o o d , th e m ulticultural staff at N ew Seasons is no accident. T he firm em ploy s a fu 11 ti m e recruiter to m ake sure each o f its store locations re flect the diversity o f the neighborhoods they serve. “W e focus on trying to m ake sure that the people that w ork in o u r stores look like the people that shop in o u r stores,” R ohter said. For these diversity efforts, the Urban L eague o f Portland honored R ohter and New Seasons in 2004 with its Equal O ppor tunity A w ard. He w as also honored with the St. A ndrew Church M artin Luther King Jr. M edal o f H onor for Social and E co nom ic Justice in 2(X)4. "T hat w as one o f the prouder m om ents in my life to receive that aw ard ,” Rohter said. T he m olding o f each store to please its custom ers is a w ork-in-progress. “W e open the store based on the know l edge that we have and it ev olves o v er the m onths because w e receive com m ents continued - Brian Rohter, New Seasons M arket co-founder and chief executive officer yf on page A3 MR MM Small City, BÌ2 HÌP HOP Why White Kids Love Hip Hop Author sees racial harmony in song photo by N icole H ooper / T he P ortland O bserver Car Bomber Strikes Convoy Bakari Kitwana (A P) - A suicide car bom ber struck a U.S. convoy T uesday near a crow ded square in a w ave o f vio lence that killed at least 17 people, in c lu d in g a U .S . s o ld ie r in Baghdad as Iraqi politicians re sum ed talks on drafting a new constitution. by N icole H ooper T he P ortland O bserver Hip hop music has had an influ ence on racial harm ony as much as the Civil Rights m ovem ent, accord ing to Bakari Kitwana, author of W hy W hite Kids Love Hip Hop. The form erexecuti ve o f hip hop’s The Source m agazine. K itw ana re cently visited Portland on a national tour to prom ote the b«x»k. his newest installm ent follow ing his book Hip H op G eneration. “W hite kids tire processing rac ism differently," Kitwana said. “This is a generation o f young w hites who arc thinking differently about what it m eans to be young and white. It’s an alienation from America. They d o n ’t have everything good. This idea o f w hite privilege is for the first tim e being challenged.” K itw ana's research isn’t about pop culture as much as it is about underground political hip hop. For exam ple, Rapper Eminem is one of the few white rappers that have been able to maintain his ghetto pass into the world o f rap, but this book is about white kids writing for pol itical change. “Em inem was just a part o f the story," K itw ana said." “People m ea sure Eminem in sales, but the impact is more significant in the Beastie Boys.” Kitwana believes black rappers merging with other white musicians, lik e 1986's "W alk T h is W ay" colloboration o f Run D M C and Aerosmith, was influential in help ing rap cross over to the mainstream. With the population of African- Americans being so small and rap record sales being so high, it is evi- continued y^ on page AS photo by K atherine B lackmore / T he P or hand O bserver Local filmmaker Opio Sokoni will debut his Portland film “Small City, Big Hip Hop" on Saturday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd. Filmmaker spotlights Portland music scene but to delve into the social issues behind it. He know s hip hop do esn ’t just mean buying an album , listen ing to it and m oving on - it’s a w ay o f life. It affects the w ay people tary film “Small City. Big Hip Hop," by K atherine B lackmore dress, how they act, w hat th ey 're O pio Sokoni hopes to bring light to T he P ortland O bserver W hen outsiders think o f the the burgeoning hip-hop co m m u concerned with. “ In the film , you see D Js, d an c Portland music scene, hip hop nity in Portland, proving that the d o esn 't generally com e to mind. city is a hub for im pressive but e rs, fa sh io n d e s ig n e rs, sp o k en w ord, and people understanding Hipsters, rock bands and techno undiscovered talent in the genre. A transplant from W ashington what the culture is all about." Sokoni DJs tend to dom inate the h ea d lines. and a posh, yet bohem ian, D C. in 2003, Sokoni is a H ow ard said. “ It's a very independent m ove culture dom inates the streets as U niversity trained law yer and gen ment here because there are no gentrification slow ly creep s its eral m anager for a local radio sta platinum artists, no film industry. tion. His calling, how ever, is not way through neighborhoods. continued y ^ on page AS Through his debut d o cu m en only todiscussentertainm ent news. I
